<p>I recently visited Tulane for their Top Scholars Weekend, and after receiving the DHS I was 100000% set on the school. However, after visiting Rice for their Owl Days, I realized how much I would miss being in a very nerdy atmosphere. While I realize Tulane is fairly homogeneous, how easy would it be to find that sort of nerdy group?</p>
<p>While Tulane won’t be as nerdy as a school that focuses on math, science and engineering, certainly like all highly selective universities it has its share. I think you will find numerous kindred spirits. I know it doesn’t correlate 1-1 with being nerdy, but staying in on Friday and Saturday nights and playing video games is still quite popular at Tulane. And there is a Quidich (sp?) club still there, I think. Does that count? I’m not up on what’s in vogue for nerdy. Without even looking I am sure there are engineering and science and math societies that can be joined.</p>
<p>@koalathebear you did a great job helping me in your other thread. My son is between a Presidential at Tulane or no financial aid at Tufts. He loves the nerdy atmosphere of Tufts. when we did the march top scholars weekend, Tulane did a great job. The most negative we had was the lack of diversity of “nerdy people”. This weekend, he’ll sleep on the floor at Tufts. DH and I are hoping he’ll choose Tulane so I can hook you “nerds” up to start your new group of friends. The math science nerds are out there!</p>
<p>@purple1968 - I have to say, I have heard from so many students that talk about not being into drinking and being nerds (not that those two are 1-1 either, but I suspect a fair correlation, at least as regards heavy drinking), and so are also concerned about finding their group to hang with, that if they all got together and formed a nerd frat it would be the biggest one on campus. I am assigning koalathebear and your son the assignment of figuring out how to best get all of these types to find each other and then proceed to do nerdy things.</p>
<p>As a student at Tulane, I know first hand that the predominant culture is not centered around “nerdy” things. If you are looking for students that are interested in math and science, I would recommend you go to Rice. Even with a huge scholarship to Tulane, you would definitely feel alienated by the party- culture. Besides the science department is much stronger at Rice, trying to register for science courses is a nightmare at Tulane especially since most departments are very small. </p>
<p>I strongly suspect that weirdjake is not a student at Tulane, based on his two inaccurate and negative posts so far. I can state for a certainty that registering for science courses at Tulane is anything but a nightmare. These people pop up every now and then. Usually they are people that are upset that they did not get into Tulane.</p>
<p>@fallenchemist thank you. Almost had a heart attack since my son just decided to go to Tulane - and is a self proclaimed science nerd.</p>
<p>@fallenchemist
I agree with your suspicions about such inaccurate reviews. Recently, a person was criticizing William and Mary in almost the exact same manner, on numerous threads. One claim was that W&M was bad at “liberal arts.” (HUH?) Whatever the reason, it was clearly a vendetta, and was obviously inaccurate.</p>
<p>@purple1968 - No problem. Situations like yours is the only reason I bother to respond to those kinds of posts any longer. Frankly, I am not even sure what the definition of a nerd is any more. Do they have to be into science and/or math? Can you be an English nerd? If it is simply someone that is more into academics than partying, then there are plenty at Tulane. If it is supposed to represent the extreme of that criterion, then I would say Tulane is not so heavily weighted that way, but why try to label a continuum as nebulous as that anyway? Tulane has plenty of students that are very intellectually curious, others that are good students but are content with just doing well with the material given to them.</p>
<p>What I am trying to get at is that just because Tulane has more of a balance between students that are into the various facets of intellectual pursuits (Liberal Arts, Science/Engineering, Business, Architecture) than schools like Rice, MIT, and some others, doesn’t mean they don’t have students that are as serious about their chosen fields. I recognize that the sciences are generally considered harder and require more time working problems and in the lab; it’s the nature of the beast. That can change the balance between the social and the academic, certainly. That shouldn’t be mistaken for intellectual laziness.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad - Wow, I agree. That is beyond ridiculous about W&M, it is one of the best in the country in the traditional liberal arts subjects. Very strong school all around, for sure.</p>
<p>It makes you wonder if the schools that rejected these people somehow saw that same immaturity that leads them to post this way. Criticism is fine, I have certainly had some for Tulane just like anyone can have for any school. Even some of the most idyllic have their fair share of issues. How can you not when dealing with institutions this size, and being as diverse as they are just makes it that much more difficult to be “perfect”.</p>
<p>If you look at the size of the math students vs Freeman students, It will give you an indication of the culture. I think 20-30 students in the graduating class last year that had a major in math and 800-900 students in the freeman school. Rice has a stronger science program than Tulane, and you would be less likely to feel like a minority there.</p>
<p>@jedelson - No question, I think we all agree with that and said so. Although I think it is unfair to only cite math majors and compare that to the number of Freeman grads. Wouldn’t it make more sense to include all the majors within the School of Science and Engineering (SSE), at least? Last year that was 438 BS degrees and about another 150 graduate degrees. But any school that has historically been a math/science/engineering school (MIT, Cal Tech, Rice, Ga. Tech, Mo. S&T, etc.) will certainly have a higher percentage of students that major in those area. That’s what my very first sentence said. Certainly if a student wants that kind of immersion, then Tulane is not as good a fit as those other schools. Seems a bit imbalanced to me, but to each their own. That is why it is called fit. Still, with hundreds of grads every year from the SSE, I would think it wouldn’t be too hard to find a like-minded group to hang with at Tulane. JMHO.</p>